The Third Testament
by emmfullness
Summary: The 14 years later version of Bonds of the Soul by Amissathearies. You will still find lots of the Angst mixed with retarded humor at random moments. PLEASE READ AND PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS. Nigredo is emphasized, but Jr. and Albedo have heavy parts, too.
1. Numbers

Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga ...and stuff. Yeah.

Author's note of greatness: Yeah, I'm well aware that Bonds of the Soul is not finished. But unlike all you losers, I know what's going to happen. In the end, beginning, middle, even the 14 years that we're not even going to cover, and on the days that will not even be covered in the Bonds of the Soul (sinister laughter). In fact, I came up with parts of the plot. To be fair, she comes up with parts of this here plot too. It's all a team effort, you see? We only need to come up with the time to write it all down. Still, enjoy!

**Major Note:** It would be an _excellent_ idea to read whatever parts of Bonds of the Soul that are posted before trying to read this. (even though she's lazy and hasn't updated in like...forever).

Numbers

Gaignun Kukai felt empty inside, truly empty. A feeling that had haunted him all his life except for a short period of a month or two about 14 years ago. He felt…isolated. Only it was an isolation that no man could ever really understand (Well, except one other, anyway). The best way it could be described would be with numbers. If people had a numerical value, Gaignun would be 0. That little, almost meaningless number between positives and negatives, the brink by which numbers are defined as either greater than or lesser than and broken into two groups accordingly. It was the number that had no effect when added or subtracted, something in this case to be completely ignored. He was the number that destroyed other numbers when they were multiplied by him…. He was an executioner. He was the number that would destroy both himself and another if he had ever been left in a denominator. He executed again if her were the numerator. He was the number that the Ancient Greeks and Romans had not even considered a number and hence gave it no name. He was the number that scientists sought to get rid of in their equations because they knew zero would only destroy everything. Furthermore, he was the number that mankind could fathom least. Zero was nothing, and no one knows what nothing looks like. To have no apples, you have air or a table or a ground to picture. Space still exists. The concept of nothing is beyond the understanding of the realm of humans. The only time Gaignun Kukai really felt was when he was around his friends or his only remaining brother. It was like they subtracted themselves from him, giving his a new value, a time where he would make a difference to them. It was around them, however, that he felt that separation, that difference and he would envy them for meaning something. For not needing a negative number to give themselves positive value and not having to feel the guilt of taking a positive and un-willingly thrusting it into its own reflection on the scales of life.

His only time in life that he had felt his own value, (not like everyone else's value, though. Something very different but not better, not worse, and not the same) was when he had been 12 years old and had come to know a little, blue-haired girl. She had been alone in her world for her whole life. She never mentioned her situations and took efforts to make sure that everyone was in the dark about them. He could feel her thoughts, though. He knew exactly what she was then, even if he didn't know how she got there. What was didn't really matter then. What mattered was that together they had a place. They had something. Some value that fit together, that fed off each other and became even greater. They had a home with each other, not like lovers or friends; it was something indefinable that just worked.

But God's gifts are only fleeting, to be enjoyed for a mere fraction of time. After that month or two of absolute bliss,she had been taken away for good, whisked away into whatever bit of infinity laid beyond this world. She was taken away from him by the same phenomena that had brought her to him: a car accident.

Hot, silent tears rolled gently down his cheeks as he reflected back to the child-goddess's funeral: the sleek casket that was her final resting place, the faces of those in the crowd that had known of her, but couldn't possibly have even understood what she really was. He was left to be the sole barer of her remembrance. She then existed only as the gentle warmth in the back of his mind that wasn't really there. It was only his memory taunting him and yet he made not move to stop it. He couldn't bare to rid himself of her any further, even if keeping these bits brought him pain.

And then the emergency line opened and Mary's face came up right in front of him with an important message….


	2. Exodus

Exodus

"Which ship?"

"The Elbe. The Kukai Foundation has funded it for over 14 years now. It was founded by Mr. Hart as a scientific research center the year before his untimely death. However, they've never been involved in anything requiring close government supervision, just things like making hard drives move a little faster or improving the digestibility of children's vitamin supplements. So, it's easy to see why we've overlooked it for so long," Mary replied with a calmed sense of urgency.

"But what could be attracting the Gnosis to such a small facility?"

"We've received no reports of anything unusual for this type of establishment. No Zohars, no Song, no nothing."

"I see. How for is it away from our current location?"

"No more than a 15 minute cruise."

"Well, set navigational courses towards the Elbe."

"Yes, sir. Should I inform Little Master to be ready for some fun?" she inquired with her usual enthusiasm.

Gaignun gave her a small smile and a nod, then hung up the line and took a moment to stare deep into space….

MEANWHILE, ON THE BRIDGE…

"WOOHOO!" Junior shouted pulling a shiny silver gun from under his trench coat and waving it in the air. "It's been weeks since I've battled a Gnosis. I swear I'm getting rusty."

"Plus, this is a good opportunity to test our new short-range Hilbert Effect waves. A small attack like this makes it ideal," Shelley added from behind her console.

"That reminds me, shouldn't we activate it now, _before_ we're stuck in the middle of it?" Junior proposed with a sense of simple logic.

"We are not yet inside the appropriate radius. We'll activate it in two more minutes."

Junior searched out the Bridge's window anxiously with a glowing excitement glimmering in his eyes. "How big of a swarm was it again?"

"Not too big. Only about ten Gnosis were reported, but there have been 27 fatalities thus far."

"That's not many, considering," Junior said, "Especially for such a small ship. They're lucky they're not _all _dead yet."

"Truly," Shelley replied coolly after a short pause. "…We are now approaching appropriate range. Would you like us to activate the Hilbert Effect now, Little Master?"

Junior walked his "I'm-so-important" walk a few steps forward, staring straight ahead into the dark nothingness of space and with an elaborate swing of his gun-holding hand, shouted, "Fire when ready!"

Shelley, ignoring the fact that the Hilbert Effect was not a piece of artillery and therefore could not be "fired," punched a few buttons, heard a few "all's good" reports from the 100-series realigns, and then finally said, "Activating Hilbert Effect" as she pressed a wonderfully shiny red button. As the wave pulsed away from the long shaft that was the Durandal, Junior sadly thought of how unfair it was that Shelley was the only one who got to press all the pretty red buttons, but this thought was quickly disrupted as Gaignun himself casually strolled onto the bridge, one hand in a dark suit pocket.

"Hey, what's up? It's not like you to surface for small operations like this…. Or the large ones, at that," Junior said, spinning around and waving his gun about in a casual fashion as he spoke, but what he was really worried about was that disturbed look in his eyes and that unsettling feeling that Gaignun was trying so hard, unsuccessfully, not to transmit through the mental link. However, Gaignun always handled his uneasiness in such a calm manner, that Junior would be the only one to tell, and sometimes it even went over his head. So, naturally, no one else in the room knew of his current state, and it was so faintly detected by Junior that he decided to overlook it.

"I just thought to break a little from tradition today," he replied whilst better hiding his uneasiness behind a small, sly smile. Junior, thoroughly confused, just stared at him not able to pick up on his intensions. IN response, Gaignun opened his jacket to reveal his own small gun in a dark leather holster. Junior couldn't believe it.

"You mean…you're coming, too?" he asked with building anticipation. His answer came in yet another of the Kaiser's small smiles and a slight nod of his head. "you really mean it!" Junior shouted in absolute glee while practically jumping out of his boots, "This'll be the greatest bonding experience we've had in years!" In his frenzy of joy, Junior unconsciously took his spot on Gaignun's right hand side. Simultaneously, an aura of seriousness ensued as a ship came into view with the words "The Elbe: making life easier bit by bit" elaborately written in bright gold letters on its side.

"There's no response on their bridge. They're not sending any boarding directions," Shelley announced pound on her keyboard.


End file.
